{"id":1051935,"date":"2025-03-11T13:16:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T17:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1051935"},"modified":"2025-03-11T13:16:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T17:16:12","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-trump-and-musks-mass-firings-and-funding-cuts-threaten-veterans-hard-earned-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/%f0%9f%9a%a8-trump-and-musks-mass-firings-and-funding-cuts-threaten-veterans-hard-earned-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 Trump and Musk\u2019s Mass Firings and Funding Cuts Threaten Veterans\u2019 Hard-Earned Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Point:<\/strong> \u201c[I]nitial cuts at the V.A. have nonetheless spawned chaotic ripple effects. They have disrupted studies involving patients awaiting experimental treatments, forced some facilities to fire support staff and created uncertainty amid the mass cancellation, and partial reinstatement, of hundreds of contracts targeted by Mr. Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/09\/us\/politics\/veterans-affairs-doge-cuts.html\"><strong>New York Times:<\/strong><\/a><strong> Chaos at the V.A.: Inside the DOGE Cuts Disrupting the Veterans Agency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>[I]nitial cuts at the V.A. have nonetheless spawned chaotic ripple effects. They have disrupted studies involving patients awaiting experimental treatments, forced some facilities to fire support staff and created uncertainty amid the mass cancellation, and partial reinstatement, of hundreds of contracts targeted by Mr. Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency.<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong><br><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The changes have shaken the veterans department, which stands out in the labyrinth of agencies and offices under siege by Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The V.A. is also one of the most politically sensitive departments in the government, serving a constituency courted heavily by Republicans, including Mr. Trump, who has made overhauling the agency a talking point since his 2016 campaign.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Now, with V.A. Secretary Doug Collins vowing a much deeper round of cuts \u2014 eliminating some 80,000 jobs and reviewing tens of thousands of contracts \u2014 <\/strong>some Republican lawmakers are warning that the tumultuous process risks undoing recent progress.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Among the 2,400 employees fired from the V.A. since Mr. Trump\u2019s inauguration are workers who purchase medical supplies, schedule appointments and arrange rides for patients to see their doctors. Many are veterans themselves. <\/strong>All were \u201cprobationary\u201d employees, meaning they were relatively new on the job and had fewer legal protections.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mr. Trump\u2019s Jan. 20 executive order freezing government hiring cut off many of the V.A.\u2019s critical research staff midway through studies,<\/strong> said Rashi Romanoff, the chief executive of the National Association of Veterans\u2019 Research and Education Foundations, an association that supports partnerships between the veterans department and nonprofits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Point: \u201c[I]nitial cuts at the V.A. have nonetheless spawned chaotic ripple effects. They have disrupted studies involving patients awaiting experimental treatments, forced some facilities to fire support staff and created uncertainty amid the mass cancellation, and partial reinstatement, of hundreds of contracts targeted by Mr. Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency.\u201d New York Times: Chaos [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1051935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 Trump and Musk\u2019s Mass Firings and Funding Cuts Threaten Veterans\u2019 Hard-Earned Benefits - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/\ud83d\udea8-trump-and-musks-mass-firings-and-funding-cuts-threaten-veterans-hard-earned-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-11T17:16:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/%f0%9f%9a%a8-trump-and-musks-mass-firings-and-funding-cuts-threaten-veterans-hard-earned-benefits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/%f0%9f%9a%a8-trump-and-musks-mass-firings-and-funding-cuts-threaten-veterans-hard-earned-benefits\/\",\"name\":\"\ud83d\udea8 Trump and Musk\u2019s Mass Firings and Funding Cuts Threaten Veterans\u2019 Hard-Earned Benefits - 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